andave's place

Meeting Litnetters: mtspur and mrsmtpspur.

In the Litnet interview the first two people I listed that I wanted to meet were Rich and Virgil. Less than two months later, I did.

I haven’t been faithful in blogging (I’m backlogged !) but we’ve been on a cross-country trip since the 5th, till the 27th. We’ve so far crossed California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, Massachusetts, Iowa, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Quebec and Toronto, and Virginia and Washington D.C.

The bright spot in Ohio was, of course, Rich and Ruth. After having spent hours for the past year or so chatting together on the phone I wanted to meet him in person very much. He felt the same, so he took a day off just to make sure we wouldn’t miss each other.

After what seemed like an interminably long time, we finally pulled into a little side street and saw this little man perched on the back of an old car, fiddling with a cellphone. As soon as we pulled in, he hopped off. It took me a second to get to him because I was on the other side of the car, but suddenly there he was - Rich.

He looked at me and Leah and said, “Wait, wait, lemmesee if I can guess which one’s Mary Sue.” His blue eyes flickered from me to Leah. “Who’s smiling hardest at me…” I was beaming fit to split so he figured who’s who rather quickly.
“Hi Rich!” I said. “I’m so glad to be here! I was afraid we wouldn’t make it!”

“Awww,” he said, sweeping me into a bear hug and kissing me soundly on the cheek. “C’mere, you!” he said in his sonorous voice - really, you’d think it’s bigger than he is . The ice broken, we proceeded to go inside, where we were introduced to Ruth. She’s a small lady, much quieter than Rich but just what you’d expect - a kind lady who’s rather a good counterpoint . I have to admit, I didn’t speak much to her, being rather taken with Rich. We took pictures - here's all of us:


Here’s us with his Spurgeon books in the background.


And then he showed me the “library.” Here are some of his gems. (Rich, perhaps you can explain - I’ve forgotten the significance of some of them .)





It was fun to see that the bubbly, jovial man of the blogs really is like that! And I’m happy to report his health is good. Logos, he’s waiting for you to visit!

Here’s him with Old Snapjaws!


And Onyx, their gorgeous dog.


Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend a lot of time with them, because we had people waiting for us. We left soon after, but that half hour spent with someone I consider an honorary dad and a special friend will always be a happy memory for me. Thanks Rich and Ruth (by the way, mrsmtpspur may be quiet and introverted, but she’s got a wall full of awards and her diploma. Bravo Ruth!)